Trailer Puller - hub gears -advice needed

[email hidden] (PRIORPARK17) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

When I am pulling my two children uphill I am on 24Front/28rear giving a gain ratio of 1.7. I am
now looking at hub gears for their ease of maintanence. According to Sheldons calculator I need a
nexus 7 speed with a 30ish front and a 24 rear.Is this feasable? Does anyone have experience of
pulling trailers with hub gears?

I use an old Sturmey Archer S5.2 5 speed internal gear hub with a
42/24 combination giving a gain ratio of 2.3 while pulling my two children (40 lbs and 30 lbs
respectively) in a trailer. I've used this hub for daily commuting and occasional trailer pulling
for more than 10 years without any problem, however for pulling this much weight up hills a lower
gear would be nice. The general recommendation from Sturmey for min chainring/cog size is 2 and
42/24 is slightly below that, but I've used a 34/24 combination on other bikes without any
problems with the hub, other than needing to make sure that the axle nuts are tight to prevent
the axle from rotating.

If you plan on doing this, you might consider a larger chainring and cog, possibly something like a
40/32. This would put less stress on the hub as all other things being equal the chain tension will
be lower with this set up. Old Uniglide cogs can be ground to the profile needed to fit the hub,
though I have found when doing this that it is helpful to weld an old 3 speed cog to the uniglide
cog as I've stripped the remaining tabs that engage the hub driver off the uniglide cog, the
uniglide cog being much narrower than a 3 speed cog.

Although hub gears require less maintenance than a derailler equipped bike, removing the rear wheel
to change a flat tire is not as easy. I don't know if Shimano has changed their design, but the last
Nexus hub I looked at did not seem very user friendly with respect to easily removing and replacing
the control cable. Perhaps someone familiar with current Nexus hubs could comment. The Sturmey cable
adjustment on their old hubs is easily done in seconds.

Bill Putnam

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (PRIORPARK17) wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When I am pulling my two children uphill I am on 24Front/28rear giving a

gain

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ratio of 1.7. I am now looking at hub gears for their ease of

maintanence.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

According to Sheldons calculator I need a nexus 7 speed with a 30ish

front and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

a 24 rear.Is this feasable? Does anyone have experience of pulling

trailers

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

with hub gears?

"Bill Putnam" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I use an old Sturmey Archer S5.2 5 speed internal gear hub with a
42/24 combination giving a gain ratio of 2.3 while pulling my two children (40 lbs and 30 lbs
respectively) in a trailer. I've used this hub for daily commuting and occasional trailer
pulling for more than 10 years without any problem, however for pulling this much weight up
hills a lower gear would be nice. The general recommendation from Sturmey for min chainring/cog
size is 2 and 42/24 is slightly below that, but I've used a 34/24 combination on other bikes
without any problems with the hub, other than needing to make sure that the axle nuts are tight
to prevent the axle from rotating.

If you plan on doing this, you might consider a larger chainring and cog, possibly something like
a 40/32. This would put less stress on the hub as all other things being equal the chain tension
will be lower with this set up. Old Uniglide cogs can be ground to the profile needed to fit the
hub, though I have found when doing this that it is helpful to weld an old 3 speed cog to the
uniglide cog as I've stripped the remaining tabs that engage the hub driver off the uniglide cog,
the uniglide cog being much narrower than a 3 speed cog.

Although hub gears require less maintenance than a derailler equipped bike, removing the rear
wheel to change a flat tire is not as easy. I don't know if Shimano has changed their design, but
the last Nexus hub I looked at did not seem very user friendly with respect to easily removing and
replacing the control cable. Perhaps someone familiar with current Nexus hubs could comment. The
Sturmey cable adjustment on their old hubs is easily done in seconds.

The Nexus gear controls are still daunting to disconnect/reconnect but the SRAM 7 is quicker than a
Sturmey (you still need a 15mm wrench along). One need only loosen a knurled screw with the fingers
and slip off the control box. To reinstall, press the control box home and tighten the knurled screw
with fingers. The gear adjsutment is unchanged in that process. Price is identical to the Nexus and
they are quite robust in service.

--
Andrew Muzi yellowjersey.orgyellowjersey.orgOpen ↗ Open every day since 1 April 1971